Artificial Sweeteners and Their Serious Side Effects

Hi, I stopped using all artificial sweeteners this weekend and have felt shaky & like my blood sugar is too low also for 2 full days. How long did it take you to stabilize and feel normal again? Heather

Vertigo

Eliminate Aspartame and sugar free foods and drinks. I realized after reading a article regarding aspartame on EC was linked to lupus and other aliments. I came to the conclusion it caused my Vertigo. I was overdosing on the stuff daily without being aware of it. I began drinking coffee at work with artificial sweetners 1-2 cups daily, had a diet soda with my lunch, then would drink energy drinks, chewing sugar free gum. ALLLLLL contained aspartame. Once I took that out of my diet and started paying more attention to the labels on the products I consume. Its one year later still no signs of vertigo.

Here is my story. And Lizz, how long did it take you to feel 100%? I am on week 5. Now I am just getting over a bad cold/sore throat too.

About 14 months ago I started getting really sick. It began with being constantly dizzy and having a ringing in my ears. Of course I went to my doctor and an ENT and they said this would go away and it was simply fluid in my ears. In the following few months I began to feel extremely fatigued and flu-like. This seemed odd to me because I was a healthy and active 27 year old woman with no health issues. Again, I went to my doctor and I was told it was simply a "viral infection."

This fatigue and dizziness quickly started to spawn out into a multitude of other symptoms including abdominal pain, headaches, tingling in my fingers and toes, muscle twitches, chronic muscle/nerve pain and insomnia. I went to several different doctors wanting second opinions. They tested me for things like MS, Lupus, Lymes Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Finally, I was sent to a specialist and diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.

I was not convinced of that diagnosis being it seemed to come on so suddenly and out of the blue so I continued to search for answers. Over the next several months I would see more doctors and specialist yet find no answers. It felt like poison was flowing through my body. I thought my life was over and the vibrant, energetic woman was gone forever. My condition was so bad that I was forced to go on a medical leave from my place of employment while I got my health taken care of. Simply getting out of bed was a huge challenge for me.

Finally I demanded a referral to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. While being treated at Mayo I went through about 30 different tests and procedures again looking for serious conditions such as MS, Lupus, other autoimmune disorders and GI disorders. I also had several MRIs, CT scans, X-rays, endoscopy, colonoscopy and bone scans. The medical bills continue to mount up. Finally, the last doctor I would visit was a GI specialist. We talked about a few things and she really wasn't sure what the issue was either. She did mention something about if I chewed gum or drank diet sodas. I told her I chewed some gum but I blew off that as the cause of any issues.

Over the next few days I was thinking again on her odd question about gum and pop. I thought to myself why would she ask that question? Is there something in gum and pop that would cause such things? I looked at the nutritional information on the pack of gum and it contained something called "aspartame." In this great age of the internet I did some quick research and was astounded at the debilitating effects aspartame can have on someone's body and mind. Yet, I wasn't convinced that my gum could be practically killing me.

After some careful thought I decided I would remove all aspartame from my diet just for a few weeks and see what, if anything, happened. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical. As a side note, I would say that I was addicted to gum sometimes consuming more than a pack a day. So giving up this addiction was hard for me.

Well here I am having completed only a few weeks of eliminating aspartame and I can say I am shocked and in almost disbelief! The very next day I was feeling an improvement. My dizziness started to decrease, my muscle pain minimizing, the fatigue, abdominal pains and twitches all improving. I went through this experiment for several days before telling anyone I knew just so I wouldn't seem to jump the gun.

In all 14 months of my debilitating condition I had seen no improvement at all. I had seen dozens of doctors including chiropractors and natropathic doctors with no help and finally some relief was coming. It makes me passionately ill that our government allows this toxic substance to be added into things that we consume. If this substance is not taken out of items on the market it should at least include warnings or recommendations for consumption. I had no idea that what I was putting in my body was killing me. I spent thousands and thousands of dollars looking for answers when I could have just taken a few things out of my diet. What else is this substance doing to other people around the world without them knowing?

Aspartame

I found out about the side effects of artificial sweeteners about 24 years ago. When diet pop first came out I started drinking large amounts of it I was 13, by the time I was fifteen I was having Grand Mal seizures. On new years eve at age 16 I had areally big seizure ( body arched for fifteen minutes followed by convulsions and remained unconcious until the next day) It was absolutely terrible. Shortly following this incident my Aunt called me saying she had read an article in a health magazine all about the dangers of Aspartame. She informed me one of the things it could cause was seizures. I stopped injesting anything with aspartame in it and have not had a seizure since. I have had a couple of times where I have injested it by accident and felt like I was going to faint and have a seizure, so now I am extremely carefull to check every label. As other artificial sweeteners have come out I have avoided them as well and do not allow my children to injest anything with artificial sweeteners.

The effects of these poisons has been known for a very long time! Sadly our government seem to care more about the big corporations than they do for the health of the common people.

My X-Boyfriend had seizures from energy drinks. He used to drink about, (Not exagerating) 3 of the large ones a day, cuz he did alot of manual labor and it gave him energy. There are artificial sweeteners in those drinks. He had 2 Grand mal seizures at work, where blood was coming out of his ears and nose.

They stopped when he stopped consuming those drinks. There is a possibility it's the high caffeeine content that caused the seizures, OR the sweeteners??

Then again, My current boyfriend, literally LIVES on diet drinks, (DIET EVERYTHING) and he doesn't have any health problems, so I don't know?

Personally I can't stand the taste of anything diet and I know right away when I taste something artificially sweetened.

Hello, just responding to the problems caused by splenda. i have been using splenda for about a year and 1/2 and have been healthly all my life. I only suffer from acid reflux, yet i had 2 seizures last year and in March of this year had a ruptured anuresum and i beleive it is from result of the splenda, but can not prove it. this should be taken off the market i am considering contacting a lawyer.

ALLERGY ALERT! SUCRALOSE

I called Memphis, Tenn. today where the bakery offices are of this wonderful chain restaurant. Why? to confirm the no sugar wild berry pie had artificial sweetners. We quit buying this pie because everytime I ate it-I simply felt terrible i.e. head fuzzy weird taste in my mouth...the nice people at the bakery portion of the restaurant told us there was no sugar and no artificial sweetners as far as they knew in the wild berry pie. Last night I got a craving for the wild berry pie. After 3 pieces (dinner and lunch)I started to have heart palpatations which prompted my call to Perkins..And indeed-there is artificial sweetner-not confirmed sucralose..in any case FAKE CHEMICALS bodies don't like.

I was fighting a sinus infection last week after landing in California and went to a Whole Foods to get some Vitamin C. I decided to get Emergen-C to add to water because it had a really tempting fruity flavor. Immediately after taking my first packet (which was delicious), I felt a weird sensation in my head and then I got really edgy (as in bad mood edgy). I read the ingredients on the box and sure enough, the vitamin C used in this brand is Aspartic acid, an excitotoxin. The Emergen-C also contained "natural flavors", aka MSG. I waited 24 hours and tried again to see if I would have the same side effects. Again, within a minute of drinking the packet, I got the same sensation in my head. My question is, are you doing more good or harm to the body when you take this form of vitamin c?!! Also, does Whole Foods know what they're selling? I thought they had stricter standards than most health food stores about supplements! I now need to check the ingredients on the dissolvable vitamin c from Trader Joe's that I have at home to see if it's the same stuff. GRRRR!!!

Here are my thoughts on Aspertame. I suspect that if someone has Gum Disease, or a leaky Gut, or Diabetes, then a higher concentration of Aspertame is absorbed.

I would guess that the phenyl component might go to fight a fungus, allowing the Methanol to get into the blood and rise sugar levels, creating much more fungus, candida, etc... than it kills.

For "healthy people", or those not afflicted by candida, etc... this may cause no damage. For others, this can cause major problems.
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The idea that sugar causes cancer has been around for a long time. That cancerous cells eat 15x more sugar, and are surrounded by lactic acid, and are anerobic(oxygen deficient), has been known.

Of course there are many types of fungus and different types of cancers, and I am over-generalizing.

Perhaps the candida eats the sugar, and the lactic acid is trying to kill the candida, but if it fails, the cancer has the ability to spread due to the low ph. Perhaps it's friendly bacteria, acidophilus or lactobacillus creating the lactic acid... then again you generate lactic acid through exercise, so perhaps the lactic acid is just a defense mechanism. Unclear.

Gum disease is treated with Chlorhexadine mouthwash. Chlorhexadine also kills ringworm fungus, and has antifungal properties, so I suspect fungus involved there (perhaps Chronic Mucosal Candidaidis).

Anyways, I suspect in some people they absorb much high concentrations of Aspertame, leading to Methanol poisoning and formaldehyde, etc... as you said.

I used to use Equal. I would have these sharp shooting pains in my head and it was frightening. I learned about aspartame and stopped using it. The symptom stopped completely for years.

I noticed that recently I sometimes experience the symptom although not as severe. I wonder if they are sneaking this poison in foods that are supposed to be regular white sugar, although white sugar is a form a poison too. I think I will have to stop consuming foods even with "regular" sugar and maybe even the "no sugar added" ones too. I usually consume low sugars but a little can do a lot of damage for some.

I have accidently consumed low levels of aspartame a few times throughout the years. Whenever I have, the shooting pains start immediately - the same or next day! Please be smart. Don't convince yourself it's okay just because it's on the market and you like the way something tastes and don't want to change your ways.

SIDE EFFECT: 2 years ago I had a Bacardi Breezer and after a short time I experienced a grand mal epileptic seizure. I felt my hearing go and knew I was about to faint. I came to 4-5 minutes later by concerned net-cafe workers who were fanning me. I was completely white and had lost conciousness for several minutes while shaking and jerking.

I just want to warn people of aspartame, I found out it was in the breezer and now I am very weary of this sweetener. It should be taken off the market. I have never had a seizure in my life, and being a traveller it changed my life in terms of travelling, and scared me to the bone. It is totally diregarding people and disrespecting people to keep using this msg and many other food additives. When will we have a say in what we put in us when often times the additives are hidden?

And to Ted, thank you so much for such a great website, you are doing great work and have extensive knowledge. You are helping so many. deep thanks :)

I found the information about aspartame in Ester C product interesting. I've had two spinal fusion and my Doctor wants me to take vitiman C for healthy cell growth etc. I could not take regular vitamin C after awhile needing nexium for months. I switched to Ester C. 6 months ago taking 500-1000mgs. a day. I had have a burning, tingling and pain in legs for months only getting extremely worse over the past 2 months. Now I am taking Neurontin 300mg;bid. My neurosurgeon wants me to go through an EMG again. I've been throught every MRI/scan to rule out my fusions/nerves at spine. After reading this and how aspartame can effect peripheral nerves it makes sense. It must be the Ester C? Thanks again for the insight.

diet soda

recent forgetfulness and is unlike me as am a nurse... drinking diet soda and protein drinks... am aware i am forgeting and is bothersome..so attribute it to aspartame and diet things. am very tired and know i am forgeting calling people anddoing things. so am done drinking all diet things.... same thing happened to me after a week of using the sweet and low .. it is like you are aware you are doing stuff but cant control it ,, very disturbing thank you hope it helps some one out

I have been consuming about 1 litre a day of diet cola over a three month period. I started getting minor pain in the ankles and lower legs. I put this down to old age etc. In the last 2 weeks the pain became very intense with knees, shoulders and back involved. The pain was now intolerable. I could only crawl around the house. Anti inflamitories had little or no effect. I stopped drinking the aspartame sweetening drink six days ago and the pain has now almost stopped. I am of the opinion that aspartame was the problem. I am of the opinion that the product should be banned.

re: Artificial sweeteners: The blindness thing is real. As a nurse I did my thesis on elderly diabetics. One thing I found that blindness in diabetics, an ongoing issue without artificial sweetners,had become so prevalent that no one with a lick of sense could attribute the increase in blindness to variants of diabetes disease itself. What I did find was that as the use of artificial sweetners increased, so did the incidents of retinal deterioration. The curves when plotted on a graph were almost identical. This means as diabetics steered away from sugared soda, they became more and more blind. Bret